Tubular wall arrangement and support therefor



y 1962 E. c. WITZKE 3,046,957

TUBULAR WALL ARRANGEMENT AND SUPPORT THEREFOR Filed Dec. 10', 1958 2SheetS Sheet 1 INVENTOR Ernest C. Whzke ZAEAL A4 046% ATTORNEY July 31,1962 E. c. WITZKE 3,046,957

TUBULAR WALL ARRANGEMENT AND SUPPORT THEREFOR Filed Dec. 10, 1958 2Sheets-Sheet 2 34 INVENTOR Ernest G. Wifzke Fig. 2. fl/Jp ATTORNEYUnited States Patent 3,046,957 TUBULAR WALL ARRANGEMENT AND SUPPORTTEEREFOR Ernest C. Witzlre, Bayside, N.Y., assignor to CombustionEngineering, Inc., New York, N.Y., a corporation of Delaware Filed Dec.10, 1958, Ser. No. 779,334-

' 6 Claims. (Cl. 122-510) This invention relates generally to a wallstructure comprised in part of side by side tubular elements, such asthe walls found in modern steam generators wherein the inner wallsurface is formed of adjacently disposed tubes.

More particularly the invention relates to a tubular wall constructionwherein the tubes are bent in unison so that they extend horizontallyback and forth across the wall with the tubes increasing in temperaturethroughout their length and with the wall structure being supported by asupport organization that permits the necessary differential expansionthat is encountered in such an arrangement. v

In accordance with the invention there is provided a vapor generatorwhich has an upright furnace with a lateral gas pass extending from therear wall of the furnace and connecting with a vertical gas pass thatextends down along side the furnace. The wall with which the inventionis concerned is made up of economizer tubes .which line each side ofthese horizontal and vertically disposed gas passes. The economizertubes that line each of these walls comprise a group of tubes that arein side by side relation and are connected at their outlet with a headerpositioned above the steam generator. These tubes extend down from thisheader, are bent in unison so that they extend back and forth generallythroughout the length of the horizontal gas pass so as to form, ineffect, horizontally extending superimposed panels that line the innersurface of the side walls of this horizontal gas pass. These tubes alsoextend downwardly from a location generally at the upper end of thevertical gas pass and thus line the inner wall surface of the side wallsof this vertical gas pass. The superimposed tubular panels are supportedfrom above through a suitable support organization which permits thepanels to move relative to one another with this being essential sincethe temperature of these economizer tubes progressively in creasesthroughout their length so that the panels expand different amounts.

This support arrangement comprises pairs of flexible bars that areconnected together at their upper ends, where they are supported from asuitable support rod, and that extend down alongside the outer surfaceof these panels with each bar of the pair being welded generally to thetubes of alternate and different panels and with the bars beingsufiiciently flexible to accommodate, by bending, relative movementbetween the alternate panels to which they are welded.

With this wall organization an extremely simple construction is providedfor lining the side walls of the vertical and horizontal gas passes witheconomizer tubes with the support for these tubes providing the requireddiflerential movement while doing away with the requirements of closetolerances and relatively intricate constructions in previously employedsupports of this nature.

It is an object of this invention to provide an improved tubular walland support arrangement wherein the tubes increase in temperaturethroughout their length and wherein the support provides the necessarydifferential expansion that occurs within the wall.

Other and further objects of the invention will become apparent to thoseskilled in the art as the description proceeds.

With the aforementioned objects in view, the invention comprises anarrangement, construction and combination of the elements of theinventive organization in such a manner as to attain the results desiredas hereinafter more particularly set forth in the following detaileddescription of an illustrative embodiment, said embodiment being shownby the accompanying drawing wherein:

FIG. 1 is a view in the nature of a vertical section through a steamgenerator embodying the present invention;

'FIG. 2 is a more detailed illustration of the tubular wall constructionthat lines the side wall of the hori invention depicted thereincomprises a furnace 10 of a steam generator which has its walls linedwith heat exchange tubes 12 and which is fired through suitable burners14. Combustion gases generated in the furnace pass upwardly therethroughover heat exchange surface 16 and 18, which may be the superheater andreheater, respectively, of the generator, with the gases exiting throughthe laterally disposed outlet 20 in the rear wall 22 of the furnace.These gases then pass through the horizontally extending gas pass 24 anddown through the vertically disposed gas pass 26 with which thehorizontal gas pass connects and which extends down alongside thefurnace in spaced relation therewith. The combustion gases traversevarious heat exchange surface in the horizontal and vertical gas passes,such as superheater surface 28 and economizer 30, as well as the heatexchange surface or tubes that line the inner surface of the walls ofthese gas passes, with the combustion gases passing from the lower endof vertical gas pass 26 to a suitable point of discharge.

The present invention is concerned with tubular arrangement that linesthe inner surface of the side walls of gas pass 24 and gas pass 26 andthe support for this tubular arrangement. The tubular arrangement liningone of these side walls will now be explained with it being understoodthat a similar arrangement is provided for the other side Wall. Asembodied, header 32 is provided above the side wall of gas pass 24 atthe front end of this gas pass and extending downwardly from this headerand a group of tubes in side by side parallel relation. As shown inFIGS. 1 and 2, these tubes, which are identified as 34, are bent inunison so thatthey extend back and forth generally throughout the lengthof horizontal gas pass 24 and form the super-imposed tubular panels 36,38 and 40 (FIG. 2) with panels 36 and 38 being interconnected byinternested U bends while panels 38 and 40 are similarly interconnected.The tubes of panel 40 are bent so that they extend vertically downwardin spaced side by side relation along the inner surface of the side wallof vertical gas pass 26.

The spacing of the tubes 34 on the sidewall of gas pass 26 issubstantially greater than the spacing of the tubes in the panels 36, 38and 40 with the tubes in these panels being very close together andhaving a space only suflicient to accommodate the expansion of the tubediameter when they are heated to their operating temperature from normalroom temperature. The tubes 34 that extend down along the side walls ofvertical gas pass 26 may be suitably 3 a finned so that the fins willoccupy the space between adjacent tubes or, if desired, the tubes may beleft without fins with the conventional outer casing or wall structureproviding a gas tight wall.

Tubes 34 are economizer tubes of the steam generator and these tubes orsome of these tubes make up each of the economizer sections 30 with thedetails of this construction being shown and described in my copendingapplication Serial No. 762,383, filed September 22, 1958, now Patent No.2,980,083, and forming no part of the present invention wherefore theyare not illustrated herein. These tubes 34 are connected to the header42 which is the inlet header of the economizer With the feed waterpassing from this header throughthe tubes 34 to the outlet header'32.from which it is conveyed in conventional manner to the steam and waterdrum or the steam generat ing portion of the steam generator. 1 I

The temperature of the water in the tubes 34 and accordinglythetemperature of the tubes themselves, progressively increases from inletheader 42 to outlet header 32 wherefore the length of the tube runs thatmake up eachof the panels 36, 38 and 40, increases different amounts asa result of thermal expansion. With the amount of thermal expansion ofpanels 36, 38 and 40 progressively'increasing, there is ,a requirementthat the support for these tubular panels permit them to movehorizontally relative to each other a suflicient distance toaccommodatet-his differential expansion.

' The panels are supported from above and for this purpose a pluralityof pairs of vertically disposed support 1 bars 44 are provided withthese pairs of bars being inllorizontally spaced relation at intervalsthroughout'the length of the panels. Each pair and bars 44 includesaleft bar 46. and a right bar 48 as viewed in FIG. '2 and these bars 46and 48 are interconnected at their upper ends by means of a short fillerplate 50 that is interposed between and welded to these bars. Thisfiller plate is bored to receive the lower end of support rod 52 whichis connected to the filler plate as by means of a suitable nut threadedonto the end of the support rod. i This support rod is in turn hung fromsuitable structural members such as channels 54 that form a part of thesteel support struc ture of the steam generator. Support bar '46iswelded to each 'of the tubes of panel 36 and each of the tubes ofpanel 40 but is not welded to and remains free of the tubes of panel 38.This provides a length of this-support bar 46, identified as 56, that isequal to the width of panel 38 with this length being sufiicient so thatthe bar can bend the amount required by the difit'erential horizontalmovement of panels 36 and 40. Support bar 48 is, on the other hand,welded to each of the tubes of panel 38, is entirely free of panel 40and is welded to a few of the uppermost tubes of panel 36 with thelatter welding being for the ptupose of providing a more rigidstructure. Thus support bar 48 is free of the tubes of panel 36 for thedistance identified as 58 and is free of all of the tubes of panel 40 oris unattached for the distance identified as'60 which corresponds to thepanel width 40. The length or distance identified as 58 is sufficient toaccommodate the relative movement between panels 36 and 38 that occursas a result of differential expansion while the distance or lengthidentified as 60 is sufiicient to accommodate the corresponding relativemovement between panels 38 and 40. 'It will be appreciated that thelengths identified as 56, 58 and 6ll may vary so long as they do notbecome so short that the support bar cannot readily and-easily bendwithin these lengths to accommodate necessary relative movement ofpanels and accordingly the bar at the extremity of each of theselengths.Each of the bars 46 and 48 is connected primarily to the tubes of'diiferent panels with the bars being free of the tubes of a paneladjacent to one to which it is primarily'con nected for atleast a lengthor distance suflicient to allow' the bar to easily bend to accommodate,the'diflierential' horizontal movement that is encountered. The severalpairs of support bars 44 are connected together at their lower ends bymeans of transversely extending member 62 for the purpose of providing amore rigid construction.

Each of the support bars 46' and 48 is rectangular in transversesection, as clearly shown in FIGS. 3'and 4,

with the major axis thereof being normal to the plane of the wall sothat the bar may readily bend in a horizontal direction as required toaccommodate relative movement overlyu'ng or tangent relation with thetubes and a suitable skin casing in the form of flexible sheet metalsections is disposed over the outer surface of the tubular panelsintermdiate the support bars with thesesheet metal sec:

tions being identified as 64 and being provided with flexible flanges orlips 66 that are bentoutwardly as shown in FIGS.-3 and 4 and are weldedto these support bars thereby forming, in effect, a gas tight structure.

The wall, of course, wil include thermal insulation,

buckstay stifieners, and the other conventional outer wall elements andthese will be supported from the support bars. However, since the outeryvall structure is conven tional it does not form partQof the presentinvention, and accordingly is not illustrated.

It will be thus appreciated that applicant has provided. an improvedtubular walla-rrangement for lining the inner surface of the walls of asteam generator and animproved organization for supporting this wallstructure and permitting the necessary expansion between portionsthereof with the entire arrangement being simple and economical butextremely reliable and satisfactory in operation. I

While I have illustrated and described a preferred em-- bodiment of myinvention it is to be understood that such is merely illustrative andnot restrictive and that variations and modifications may be madetherein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Itherefore do not wish to be limited to the precise details set forth butdesire to avail myself of such changes as fall within the purview of myinvention. v WhatIclaim is: 1

1. In an organization ofthe type described, an upright elongated furnaceforming part of a vapor generator, a passageway extending laterallytherefrom for the conveyance of combustion gases from the furnace and avertically extending passageway in spaced relation with said furnace andconnected with the lateral passageway to forman extension thereof, agroup of economize-r tubes of the vapor generator extending verticallyalong each of the side walls of the vertical passageway and at the upperregion thereof being bent in unison and internested fashion so that theyextend laterally along the corresponding side wall of the lateralpassageway with the group of tubes-extending back and forth as a grouphorizontally along this wall forming panels and effectively coveringgenerally area thereof with the ends of the horizontal runs of the groupforming adjacent panels being interconnected by U bends that areinternested, and means supporting these tubes lining the side walls ofthe lateral passageway from above including vertically extending-supportbars constructed and arranged to provide for relative horizontalmovement between the several superimposed panels said barsbeing disposedsolely on the side of the panels remote from the interior of the lateralpassageway and means to rigidly secure said bars to various tubes ofsome of the panels, and

so arranged to permit the tubes of adjacent panels to move horizontallyrelative to each other.

2. The organization of claim 1 wherein the support for the tubescomprises pairs of closely spaced vertical support bars disposed athorizontal intervals along the wall and.

which are relatively flexible in a horizontal direction, means tieingeach pair of bars together at their upper end, a support hangerconnected to said means whereby the bars eifectively hang from saidhanger, said bars being welded to the horizontal runs in a manner tosupport the same with the bars having a sufficient length free of thetubes to permit the bars to bend to accommodate differential movementbetween different panels.

3. A vapor generator comprising in combination an upright furnace, ahorizontal passageway for combustion gases extending from the upper endthereof and a vertical passageway extending down from the end of thehorizontal passageway in spaced relation with the furnace, a group oftubes in closely spaced side by side relation extending down from aheader above said horizontal passageway and being bent in unison so theyextend horizontally back and forth along a side wall of the horizontalpassageway with the horizontal tube runs of the group forming in effectpanels that are vertically superimposed, the lowermost horizontal run ofthe group extending to the vertical passageway and thereat being bent toextend down along the corresponding wall of this vertical passagewaywith the tubes being spaced further apart on this wall, and with thelower end of the tubes being connected with a header, said tubes formingpart of the economizer of the vapor generator, means supporting thetubes lining the horizontal passageway wall from above, said meanscomprising vertically extending bars disposed on the side of the panelsremote from the passageway interior and horizontally spaced along thewall and having a rectangular transverse section the major axis of whichis normal to the wall, each of said bars being connected with horizontaltube runs to support the same, and with relation to adjacent panels eachbar being free of a sufiicient number of the tubes of one of theadjacent panels to provide a length of the bar sufficient that it willbend to accommodate the differential movement that is encounteredbetween the tubes of different panels.

4. The organization of claim 3 wherein the bars are disposed in closelyspaced pairs with the bars of each pair being spaced longitudinally ofthe tubes and connected generally to difierent tube runs with the twobars together connected generally to all the tube runs, means joiningthe 5 bars together at their upper end and a hanger rod connected tothis last named means.

5. In an organization of the type described a group of side by sidetubes connected between inlet and outlet header means and progressivelyincreasing in temperature from the inlet to the outlet header, saidgroup including a portion where the tubes extend in unison back andforth with each horizontal run of the group forming a panel, with thepanels being superimposed in a common vertical plane and interconnectedby internested U-bends, means supporting the panels from above in amanner permitting the limited relative horizontal movement therebetweenlengthwise of the horizontal runs resulting from differential expansion,said means comprising flexible bars, means to rigidly secure said barswith the horizontal tube runs of at least alternate panels and at most,with the tube runs of adjacent panels at a location from the nearestconnection with the alternate panels so that a free length of the bar ishad such that will flex to accommodate the necessary diiterentialhorizontal movement.

6. The organization of claim 5 wherein the bars are disposed in pairsclosely spaced horizontally along the panel, with the bars being ofrectangular section the major axis of which is normal to the plane ofthe panel, means interconnecting the bars of each pair at their upperend, and 30 a support bar hung from above connected to this last namedmeans.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS

